Michael Rivelin - Personal Injury

Michael is a barrister specialising in personal injury law.

Michael is regularly instructed in a broad range of personal injury work including employer’s liability, public liability, road traffic accidents, and Highways Act claims, at interim hearings and at trial.

Before joining the Bar, he worked as a doctor in hospital medicine and surgery and continues to serve as a lay chair for the General Dental Council’s education team. His medical experience provides first-hand insight into NHS workplace culture, which is particularly valuable in NHS employer’s liability claims, and helps him navigate complex cases, build strong client relationships, and provide clear, practical advice.

Michael has experience drafting particulars of claim, defences, skeleton arguments, advices on quantum and liability, schedules and counter-schedules, and advising in conference. Michael welcomes instructions across the full spectrum of work undertaken by the team.

Recent personal injury cases:

• Psychiatric harm from mandatory isolation during Covid-19.
• Burns
• Falls from height
• Scarring from exploding glass
• Facial scarring
• Inhalation of fumes
• Defective gym equipment
• Harm whilst using play equipment (climbing frames, wooden logs etc.)
• Highways Act claims and claims in public nuisance on the highway
• Road traffic accidents, including against the Motor Insurers’ Bureau
• Infections contracted at petting zoos
• All manner of lifting, moving, slip, and trip injuries
• Faulty work equipment and failure to provide equipment
• Failure to make adaptations for disabled employees
• Injuries sustained whilst on fairground rides

Michael’s recent notable work includes:

• Junior counsel in an FAA claim arising from the death of a man intentionally struck with a van at high speed. Settled at JSM.
• An employer’s liability claim pleaded in excess of £250,000 – advising in conference, drafting pleadings and the schedule.
• Securing permission for Part 35 questions out of time at a contested interim hearing, and then drafting those questions, leading to the claimant discontinuing their claim.
• Successfully defending an EL claim brought by a lifeguard who slipped on the poolside.
• Mediation for a claim arising out of an admitted breach of GDPR.